Frozen treats mounted on sticks, such as flavored ice pops and ice cream treats, are well known and popular treats. These frozen treats tend to melt quickly. Young children are often not able to eat the entire treat before the melting begins. Most often, this results in drips that fall down onto the child's shirt, hand, arm or nearby furniture. Melting frozen treats can become a substantial mess whether consumed indoors or outdoors.
In view of the above, parents typically expect a liquid mess whenever a child is given a frozen treat. Preparation may include a bib for the child or giving a frozen treat only when the child is outside. The bib is only helpful if the drip were to land on the child's shirt. Little protection is offered for the child's hand, arm, lap or the surrounding area. Also, eating frozen treats only outside may be impractical in many situations. A paper towel may be wrapped around the stick, but can be clumsy and sometimes even creates more of a mess.
Parents often assume the frozen treat will make a mess and resign themselves to a clean-up effort after the frozen treat is eaten or dropped. Also, in the case of retail sales of individual frozen treats, such as from an ice cream truck or a store counter, frozen treat vendors often have a line of customers awaiting service. Vendors typically work to minimize the time required to prepare each order and often provide the purchaser with only a dispenser of small napkins which provide some usefulness in wiping up drips, but are of little help in catching drips before they make a mess.